In examining the character and mind of Lee
Harvey Oswald, it is important to take a look at several of his writings,
especially those that display his political or philosophical views.

One natural difficulty in examining Oswald's writing is that it is extremely
sloppy, filled with a huge number of spelling and grammatical mistakes. If
those mistakes are cleaned up to improve clarity and legibility, what does the
writing reveal about Oswald is thinking?

Oswald has left a number of samples to explore this area, including "The
Collective," a manuscript describing life in the Soviet Union, his "Historic
Diary," which depicts his years in Russia, his "Revolutionary Resumé"  intended to persuade the Cuban Embassy to let him into their country  as well as a
number of notes, and undelivered speeches.

In all of these writings, Oswald has revealed thinking that is broad, but not
necessarily deep. Much of his writing is undisciplined, filtered through
the eyes of someone who absolutely despises authority.

And yet there are a number of contradictions in his beliefs. While
comparing the United States and the Soviet Union, Oswald said he would not take
the stance of "a curse on both your houses" and yet that is exactly what he
did. Oswald favored free speech, but also suppression of anti-Semitic or
other forms of hate speech. He favored gun control in respect to
handguns, but was willing to allow rifles and shotguns.

The following is a list of various samples of Oswald's writing and
thinking:

Embassy
Trip  Entry of Oswald's diary dealing with his trip to the U.S. Embassy to renounce his citizenship

Letter  Oswald writes
to his brother Robert on Nov. 2, 1959, talking about defecting to the USSR

Second Letter  Oswald
writes to Robert on Nov. 26, 1959 from the USSR